FAL Receiver Castings?

**hcpookie** · 04-02-2009, 10:37 AM

Looking for one of those FAL castings. May actually try my hand at building one

Anyone know if they are still around? I saw one for $70 on gunbroker which seems a bit much to me.

kernelkrink · 04-02-2009, 06:08 PM

That seems to be the going rate these days. Private sales are about it for these, Tapco quit selling them a long time ago. They went for like $17 back then, sometimes on sale for less than $10.

Before you invest in one do some research on the machining required to finish them. For a blowback build they wouldn't be too bad, but getting them properly heat treated to withstand a .308 build looks to be difficult. There is also a major lack of accurate blueprints to work from.

allesennogwat · 04-02-2009, 07:23 PM

ATF ruled they are too complete to be non-firearms. You won't see anymore being made. At least not by a company with an FFL of any kind. This is because licensed makers are considered to be making receiver with the intention of making firearms. Non firearm makers might get away with making and selling a bit more blanks as noon firearms as they do not not intend to make firearms. This is how the ATF gets a bit more leverage controlling licensed makers.

I don't think NDS sells AK flats anymore and Armalite isn't selling AR-10 blanks directly anymore.

**hcpookie** · 04-02-2009, 07:27 PM

Yes I've been doing some research on the homegunsmith forum. I figure at the very least, it will be a good ship-in-a-bottle project!

The apparent "standard" for building these is to use eyeball 1.0 and fit to finish with the parts in-hand. There are some blueprints that are considered to be guidelines in that they aren't exactly accurate on the measurements. Fortunately there are a few "how I did it" threads over there which seem to be comprehensive.

The heat treating is what bothers me. I don't have an oven, and I plan to send it off to get it heat treated after I finish it. They are 4130, so the proper heat treating method is well documented. I simply don't have the resources to do it myself.

allesennogwat · 04-02-2009, 07:35 PM

The FAL castings are 4140 not 4130. That's the AK sheet steel (or 1050). The FAL castings are pre hardened and they are hard !! Dan Coonan posted some info on heat treating and machining. He says he gets most consistent results heat treating before machining. He doesn't heat treat super hard but fairly hard. It might be best to just machine the FAL castings as-is and keep the original hardness. The Century / Tapco castings have the front magazine catch cut a bit too low. It can be fixed. Even better machine for inch magazines.

yarro · 04-02-2009, 07:44 PM

NDS quit selling flats because they are going balls out trying to meet receiver demand and can't waste the time on a low margin item right now. My guess is Armalite quit selling forgings because others are selling complete knock off uppers and parts kits, not to mention that they are also going balls out trying to keep up with orders. The ATFE has not ruled that a forging or 0% machined casting is a firearm and would be hard pressed to do so under existing law. They have taken a hard look at those who are selling "80%" recievers and did not submit a sample to the Technology branch for a review or made changes after getting approval. Having built a AR forging into a receiver, it entails a lot of machining and setups. A FAL would be worse since no good prints leaked out of FN, the barrel threads have to be started in the correct place for a barrel to time correctly, machining internal rails, etc.

-yarro

allesennogwat · 04-02-2009, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yarro

NDS quit selling flats because they are going balls out trying to meet receiver demand and can't waste the time on a low margin item right now. My guess is Armalite quit selling forgings because others are selling complete knock off uppers and parts kits, not to mention that they are also going balls out trying to keep up with orders. The ATFE has not ruled that a forging or 0% machined casting is a firearm and would be hard pressed to do so under existing law. They have taken a hard look at those who are selling "80%" recievers and did not submit a sample to the Technology branch for a review or made changes after getting approval. Having built a AR forging into a receiver, it entails a lot of machining and setups. A FAL would be worse since no good prints leaked out of FN, the barrel threads have to be started in the correct place for a barrel to time correctly, machining internal rails, etc.

-yarro

Two things happened to the FAL castings. The main one is the ATF will not allow any of them as non firearms anymore. I guess the barrel hole, magwell and top and bottom cutouts make them "too complete" even if they are far from FAL's. The other thing once a company works under an ATF license they are controlled to operate in a certain manner. Somebody making and selling AK flats is fine. Once a license is issed there are certain things that must be met. The ATF has decided that a firearm maker making blanks is making them with the intention of making firearms and therefore come under the license. Licensed companies are given conditions all of the time. It has nothing to do with controlling non-firearms. I used to buy AR-10 blanks directly from Armalite. The owner made me sign a statement that I wouldn't put his company name on them. That's the other thing. Selling blanks and being a firearm maker people could use your own blanks to mimic your product and even use your name on them.

**hcpookie** · 04-04-2009, 10:15 AM

Well they are still out there and available by individual sales, and I see some FS on gunbroker but I would like to get one for less than the $75 range. THat makes it 1/3 of a Conaan rec which by comparison makes it not worthwhile considering the tools and cost of heat treat that I'll need to build one. It is more appealing at the $50 level if I can still find one at that range.